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Feature Story - 2013-04-16

Investigations made by Greenpeace East Asia have exposed the dumping of massive amounts of hazardous waste in the Southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan by the country's fertilizer industry. Phosphate mining in Longmen Mountain has also greatly exacerbated the risk of landslides and other geological disasters, threatening the safety of miners and residents downstream.

Our damning new report reveals phosphate mining in Longmen Mountain, Sichuan greatly exacerbates the risk of landslides and other geological disasters in an area already severely stricken by the devastating 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The industry is also aggressively encroaching on the habitat of a native giant panda population.

Panda habitats in Sichuan threatened by Chinese mining companies

A report has found that phosphate mining in Longmen Mountain, Sichuan greatly exacerbates the risk of landslides and other geological disasters, threatening the safety of miners and residents downstream. In addition, phosphate mining has encroached on the region's nature reserve, impacting a native giant panda population.

Greenpeace campaigner Lang Xiyu: "Our discovery indicates an environmental time bomb created by an overblown phosphate fertilizer industry, producing far more fertilizer than needed. China has now accumulated at least three hundred million tons of phosphogypsum, or more than 200 kg for every citizen in China."

When thinking about food the first image that comes to our mind might be the so-called 'food porn' photography that the marketing industry relies upon when advertising food products. But there is also an ugly side of food the industry is not willing to portray and it involves chemical fertilisers.